Go Runner - Auto Restart Server

🚀 The ultimate VS Code extension for Go development with hot reloading!

Automatically restart your Go server when files change, making development faster and more efficient. No more manual restarts - just code and see your changes instantly!

✨ Features

• 🎯 One-command solution: Single command starts Go server with auto-restart enabled
• 🔥 Smart file watching: Automatically restarts server when .go files change (excludes test files)
• ⚡ Lightning fast: Optimized process management for quick restarts
• 🛡️ Robust: Handles process cleanup, port conflicts, and edge cases
• 🎛️ Configurable: Customize file watching patterns and exclusions
• 📊 Detailed logging: View server logs and restart activity in VS Code output
• 🧠 Intelligent: Ignores test files so you can write tests without interruption

🎮 Commands

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace
2. Open a Go project in VS Code (must have main.go or go.mod)
3. Start the server: Press Ctrl+Shift+P → type "Go Runner" → select "Start Go Server with Auto-Restart"
4. Code away! The server automatically restarts when you save .go files
5. View logs in the "Go Runner" output channel
6. Stop when done: Use "Go Runner: Stop Go Server" command

📋 Requirements

• ✅ Go installed: Go must be installed and available in your PATH
• ✅ Valid Go project: Your project should have a main.go file or go.mod file
• ✅ VS Code 1.74+: Compatible with VS Code version 1.74.0 and above

⚙️ Configuration

Customize the extension behavior through VS Code settings:

Example Configuration

{
  "goRunner.watchPatterns": ["**/*.go", "**/*.mod"],
  "goRunner.excludePatterns": [
    "**/vendor/**",
    "**/node_modules/**",
    "**/*_test.go",
    "**/test/**",
    "**/testdata/**"
  ]
}

🔧 How It Works

The extension uses advanced process management to ensure reliable server restarts:

1. Process Groups: Creates detached process groups to track parent and child processes
2. Smart Killing: Kills entire process trees, not just the parent go run process
3. Port Cleanup: Automatically finds and kills processes using common Go server ports
4. Debounced Restarts: Prevents multiple restarts from rapid file changes
5. Error Recovery: Handles port conflicts and process cleanup automatically

🐛 Troubleshooting

Server won't start

• ✅ Ensure Go is installed: go version
• ✅ Check your project has main.go or go.mod
• ✅ Verify no other process is using the port
• ✅ Check the "Go Runner" output channel for errors

Server won't restart on file changes

• ✅ Ensure you're editing .go files (not test files)
• ✅ Check file patterns in settings
• ✅ Verify the server is actually running
• ✅ Try stopping and starting again

Port conflicts

• ✅ The extension automatically handles port cleanup
• ✅ If issues persist, manually kill processes: lsof -ti:8080 | xargs kill -9
• ✅ Try using a different port in your Go code

Performance issues

• ✅ Adjust goRunner.excludePatterns to ignore more files
• ✅ Use more specific goRunner.watchPatterns
• ✅ Ensure your project isn't too large

🤝 Contributing

Found a bug or want to contribute? We'd love your help!

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests if applicable
5. Submit a pull request

📝 Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history.

👨‍💻 Author

Sri Jayan E - Passionate Software Developer Publisher: astro-byte

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Made with ❤️ for the Go community

If you find this extension helpful, please ⭐ star the repository and leave a review!